“His weight has been the only issue. He showed up at these workouts under weight, lighter than he’s been since he’s been here — and that’s with him having a boot on his foot.”

I’ve been as critical of Andre as any Bengals fan. In 2009, many of us were pleading for the Bengals to take Eugene Monroe or Michael Oher instead, even though we knew deep down they would take him anyway. And Smith has done a bang-up job over the last two years of confirming every concern and fear we had.

But perhaps no longer.

Whitworth went on: “The first thing he said to me was, ‘Whit, it’s my time. Time for me to step up.'”

Correction, Andre. Your time to step up was two years ago. But better late than never to start living up to that number 71 you wear.